Islamabad: A Spokesman of the Prime Minister’s House has said that as a result of personal intervention by Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, goods movement in the country which was withheld for the past few days owing to a strike by the transporters has been restored in the early hours on Thursday.

The spokesman said that due to the transport strike, economic activity had come to a grinding halt, resulting in loss of billions of rupees.

The spokesman said that when the Prime Minister was informed that the transport of cargo to and from Karachi had been disrupted and imports and exports goods were being effected, he immediately took notice of the matter and directed Mr Babar Khan Ghori, Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping and Mr Abbas Khan Afridi, Minister of State for Commerce, to rush to Karachi.

The spokesman said that Ministers reached Karachi yesterday afternoon and started negotiations with 31 unions representing various transport, truck and trailer associations. During the negotiations, the Ministers remained in touch with the Prime Minister and kept him apprised of the developments.

The spokesman said that after extensive discussions and negotiations with the leaders of the unions, the Ministers convinced them to withdraw the strike call in the early hours this morning and transport started plying the roads immediately.

The spokesman said that the Ministers assured the union leaders that their genuine grievances on weight control and check posts would be looked into sympathetically other genuine issues raised by the unions would also be addressed within three months in consultation with the police and the National Highway Authority, they assured.

The spokesman said that the Prime Minister appreciated the efforts of the Ministers in resolving the issue.